Urological bladder evacuator

ABSTRACT

The invention is an improved valve which forms part of an assembly used in transurethral operative procedures, including a syringe which may be put in communication with the bladder through a tube which is connected to the syringe through a twoway valve. The valve is disposed in a single plane and is operable to two positions by movement of the syringe, in one of which it provides straight line communication from the syringe to the bladder to permit injection into and withdrawal from the bladder and in the other of which it provides straight line communication from the syringe to a discharge passage to discharge material withdrawn from the bladder.

United States Patent [191 Iglesias [451 Dec. 16,1975

1 1 UROLOGICAL BLADDER EVACUATOR [21] Appl. No.: 534,309

Primary Examiner.lohn D. Yasko Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Scrivener ParkerScrivener & Clarke [57] ABSTRACT The invention is an improved valvewhich forms part of an assembly used in transurethral operativeprocedures, including a syringe which may be put in communication withthe bladder through a tube which is connected to the syringe through atwo-way valve. The valve is disposed in a single plane and is operableto two positions by movement of the syringe, in one of which it providesstraight line communication from the syringe to the bladder to permitinjection into and withdrawal from the bladder and in the other of whichit provides straight line communication from the syringe to a dischargepassage to discharge material withdrawn from the bladder.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures US. Patent Dec. 16, 1975 TI I moEn: mw m CmoEn:

UROLOGICAL BLADDER EVACUATOR DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a topview of an evacuator assembly according to the art prior to thisinvention; FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the valve part of the assembly,taken on line 22 of FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a partial view of an assembly ofthe same parts as shownin FIG. 1 but being a top view of the valveprovided by this invention, and FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the valve,taken on line 44 of FIG. 3.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In urology it often becomes necessary toevacuate from the bladder foreign materials such as blood clots,necrotic tissues, pieces of prostatic tissues following transurethralresection, or stone fragments or sand following crushing by litholapaxy.A widely used evacuator device, and one having possibly the closestrelation to the present invention, is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of thedrawings. This device is manufactured by American Q/stoscope Makers,Incorporated, and is particularly disclosed in the catalog of V. Muellerand Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1956, at page 420. This prior art devicecomprises the syringe 2 having a compressible rubber bulb actuator 4 atone end, which may be replaced by a plunger, and at the other end havinga tapered spout 6 which is connected through valve device 8 to tube 10which is inserted into the bladder A in performing urological operativeprocedures. The valve device consists of an integrally formed tubehaving two parts 12, 14 which are connected at right angles to eachother. The part 12 receives the discharge spout 6 of the syringe 2 andthe part 14 extends into a cylindrical member 16 and is rotatablymounted therein, and within member 16 is provided with a port 18. Themember 16 is provided with two ports 20, 22 the centers of which arespaced at 90 to each other. Port opens into the proximate end of tube 10through fitting 24 and port 22 opens into discharge fitting 26 whichextends vertically downwardly from the valve assembly. Tubular part 14has an external stop member 28 which is received within acircumferentially extending slot 30 in cylindrical member 16. Engagementof the stop member with the ends of the slot positions the port 18 invalve tube 14 in alignment with either fitting 24 and tube 10 or withdischarge fitting 26, and such movement of the valve tube 14 is effectedby a vertical rotational operation of syringe 2 from the full lineposition to the broken line position of FIG. 2.

This prior art evacuator is not satisfactory in use because the valveincludes a right angular passage between the syringe and the bladderwhich traps bits and pieces of tissue, such as those shown in FIG. 1,which have been resected during the operative procedure and must bewithdrawn through the tube 10 and the valve. The present inventioneliminates this difficulty by providing a valve through which thepassage is straight line instead of angular.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The evacuator assembly including the newand improved valve device provided by this invention has the same partsas the conventional assembly shown in FIG. 1, these being the syringe 1having a compressible rubber bulb, for which a plunger may besubstituted, the tube 10 for insertion into the bladder A, and the im- 2proved valve device B connecting the syringe and tube 10.

The valve device comprises a hollow cylindrical casing having parallelend walls 40, 42 and peripheral wall 44 which is provided with two ports46, 48 which are positioned at 90 to each other. Port 46 communicateswith the interior of a tubular fitting 50 which extends radiallyoutwardly from the cylindrical valve body for connection to tube 10,while port 48 communicates with the interior of a tubular fitting 52which extends radially outwardly and downwardly from the cylindricalcasing and provides a discharge passage. The valve casing is providedwith a circumferentially extending opening 58 having end walls 60, 62which are positioned in a manner to be described.

A cylindrical valve body is rotatably mounted within the valve casingwith its peripheral wall in sliding engagement with the interior wall ofthe casing, and has an integrally formed fitting 72 which extendsradially outwardly from the valve body through the opening 58 in thevalve casing. A passage 74 extends diametrically through the valve bodyand communicates with the aligned interior passage 76 Within the tubularfitting 72.

In accordance with the invention the centers of the ports 46, 48 and theaxes of the fittings 50, 52 and 72 all lie in a common plane which isbetween and parallel to the end walls 40, 42 of the cylindrical valvecasing and therefore the passages through the valve, to and from thesyringe and the tube 10, and to and from the syringe and the dischargefitting 52, are straight line and therefore offer no impediment topassage of resected tissue from the operative field to the syringe andfrom the syringe to the discharge port 52 when such tissue is removedfrom the operative field.

In the operation of the valve the valve body 70 is rotated by moving thesyringe in a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, thereby movingthe fitting 72, which is connected to the syringe, in the same directionto rotate the valve body 70 and align the passage 74 in the valve bodywith either port 46 and fitting 50 or with port 48 and fitting 52. Thelength of opening 58 in the valve casing is such that the end walls 60,62 of the opening form abutments limiting the movement of the syringe,fitting 72 and the valve body so that engagement of one or the other ofthese end walls positions the valve body for communication of itspassage 74 with either tube 10 or the discharge fitting 52.

I claim:

1. In an evacuator assembly for use in urological operative procedurescomprising a syringe and a tube for insertion into the operative field,an improved valve providing communication between the syringe and thetube comprising a. a fixed hollow cylindrical casing having end wallsand a peripheral wall,

b. the cylindrical casing having in its peripheral wall two ports whichare positioned at to each other, one of which is adapted to be connectedto the tube and the other to a discharge fitting, the latter beingdownwardly directed in the use of the evacuator assembly to permitdischarge into a container, and the cylindrical casing also having acircumferentially extending opening,

c. a cylindrical valve body rotatably mounted within the fixedcylindrical casing and having a passage extending diametricallytherethrough positioned to communicate selectively with the two ports inthe cylindrical casing,

valve body registers with one or the other of the ports in thecylindrical casing,

. the centers of the ports in the valve casing and the axis of thepassage in the valve body lying in the same plane which lies between theend walls of the cylindrical casing and is substantially parallelthereto, thereby providing straight line communication between thesyringe and the tube and be- .tween the syringe and the discharge port.

1. In an evacuator assembly for use in urological operative procedurescomprising a syringe and a tube for insertion into the operative field,an improved valve providing communication between the syringe and thetube comprising a. a fixed hollow cylindrical casing having end wallsand a peripheral wall, b. the cylindrical casing having in itsperipheral wall two ports which are positioned at 90* to each other, oneof which is adapted to be connected to the tube and the other to adischarge fitting, the latter being downwardly directed in the use ofthe evacuator assembly to permit discharge into a container, and thecylindrical casing also having a circumferentially extending opening, c.a cylindrical valve body rotatably mounted within the fixed cylindricalcasing and having a passage extending diametrically therethroughpositioned to communicate selectively with the two ports in thecylindrical casing, d. a hollow tubular connecting device forming aone-piece integral connection with the cylindrical valve body andextending outwardlY therefrom through the circumferentially extendingopening in the cylindrical casing and adapted to be connected to thesyringe of the evacuator device, e. the length of the circumferentiallyextending opening in the cylindrical body being such that when theconnecting device engages one or the other of the end walls of theopening the passage through the valve body registers with one or theother of the ports in the cylindrical casing, f. the centers of theports in the valve casing and the axis of the passage in the valve bodylying in the same plane which lies between the end walls of thecylindrical casing and is substantially parallel thereto, therebyproviding straight line communication between the syringe and the tubeand between the syringe and the discharge port.